Monday, June 3, 2013

Immoral Women (1979)

The classic 1974 anthology film Immoral Tales was an incredibly important entry into the filmography of Walerian Borowczyk. Aside from giving us the now iconic image of Paloma Picasso (daughter of Pablo) bathing in a tub filled with pigs blood during her portrayal of the blood countess Elizabeth Bathory in the films third segment, it was a film that thematically set the course for what was yet to come from Borowczyk. It was also the film that began Borowczyk’s banishment from the good graces of critics. Prior to Immoral Tales, Borowczyk’ animations as well as his debut live action feature film Goto, Island of Love (1968) and its follow-up Blanche (1971) won him various festival prizes and even had many hailing him, rightfully so, as a genius. Although Immoral Tales won the festival choice award at the 17th Regus London Film Festival, the films taboo content ultimately proved to be too much at the time for the snooty critical establishment (the fact that the film made a lot of money probably irked them even more). Not that Borowczyk ever let critical opinion sway him, he let that be known loud and clear with The Beast (1975) and the rest of his body of work speaks for itself. 5 years after Immoral Tales, Borowczyk returned to the anthology film with Immoral Women, which could be seen as somewhat of a sequel to Immoral Tales.

Split up into 3 segments, Immoral Women focuses on 3 individual women set against different time periods. Margarita - In renaissance Italy Margarita Luti (Marina Pierro) the beautiful daughter of a baker hatches a get rich quick scheme by using her natural charms to seduce and become the model of Raphael, a young artist commissioned by the Pope for a very lucrative sum to create new fresco’s for the Vatican. Margarita’s greed quickly escalates and it soon becomes apparent that she’ll go to any extreme necessary to get what she wants. Marceline - Marceline (Gaëlle Legrand), a whimsical teenager in 18th centaury France is closer to her pet bunny Pinky than society would deem acceptable. Disapproving of all the time Marceline spends with Pinky, her overbearing parents take matters into their own hands unprepared for the consequences. Marie - In contemporary Paris, Marie (Pascale Christophe) is kidnapped in broad daylight. Her captor demands her husband pay a ransom fee, threatening Marie’s life if payment is not made. When her husband fails to rise to the occasion, Marie finds an unlikely hero in her dog Caesar, rewarding him in her own unique way.

There’s no mistaking Immoral Women for the work of any other filmmaker. From the playful eroticism that oftentimes takes a turn for the bizarre (especially during the second and third segments), the jabs at the church and uptight, upper class society and oddball humor, all three segments of the film feature the majority of Borowczyk’s trademarks. Much like his previous film Behind Convent Walls (1978), its the humor that comes to the forefront, specifically during Margareta and Marceline’s tales. The comedic elements of the former are fairly traditional (“traditional” for Borowczyk anyway), even featuring a pretty elaborately set up gag involving a maze-like structure complete with dead ends and trap doors. Its during this first episode where Borowczyk takes his usual shots at the church and the brief moments involving a mud-slinging painter are hysterical albeit random. Its during Marceline’s segment where the humor goes into the off the wall territory by way of Marceline’s parents and maid’s behavior during family meals plus the singing “talents“ of Marceline‘s mother. This particular segment was based on the writing of André Pieyre de Mandiargues which would explain the surreal sense of humor. The second meal sequence in particular is as unusual as it is side-splittingly hilarious due to the overt absurdness of it all which also ties in with Marie’s segment. For the most part this final chapter of the film does seem to the be “odd woman out” so to speak but its final outrageous moments are a fitting way to cap the film off.

Naturally painting and texture play a massive role during Margarita considering the history of the story plus Borowczyk’s history as a painter, there are several shots which could have easily been transported from the canvas to the screen and vice versa. There are a few instances during Marceline featuring hanging meat carcasses which will perhaps spring to mind thoughts of painting as well. Borowczyk’s affinity for period pieces is ever apparent during Margarita and he has perhaps never filmed Pierro more beautifully than he does here. Pierro not only couldn’t have been more perfect for the role of Margarita but it was only fitting for Borowczyk to cast his gorgeous muse in the role of one of history’s most gorgeous muses. With Marceline, the most notorious of the three stories, Borowczyk makes expert use of soft focus making the whites of Marceline’s garb and of course the bright fur of the rabbit beam. Speaking of, Borowczyk stages and films the infamous scenes of Marceline and the rabbit in such a manner that, believe it or not, they actually don’t appear nearly as exploitative as they might sound on paper while at the same time obviously being objectionable enough to make many a squeamish viewer very uncomfortable. Marie again sticks out like a sore thumb visually on account of its modern setting and knowing Borowczyk’s rather cold view of the modern world so its no surprise to see him playing it fairly straight for the majority of this episode, although Christophe’s presence makes up for it.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that the original theatrical poster for the film featuring provocative images of Gaëlle Legrand and Pinky the rabbit ruffled a few feathers back in 1979, and when the film made its way to DVD in 2007 courtesy of Severin (a fantastic looking release by the way) the poster art once again caused a bit of a stir with Severin posting a statement on their website reading: “One day following its heralded release, a prominent US retailer has unceremoniously returned all copies ofIMMORAL WOMEN due to what has been reported as its 'offensive' packaging. Despite the fact that the cover art replicates imagery used on its 1979 theatrical posters, morally sensitive folk at the chain found the suggestive shots of bunny-lust to be too much for their customers.” On another somewhat humorous note, actress Pascale Christophe appeared in a Disney production of all things for television in 1977. She was also featured in Immoral Tales as Countess Bathory’s servant. Immoral Women might not carry the same reputation as Borowczyk’s previous Immoral film but in no way should it be considered a so called “lesser” work. As described above, all three stories feature several of Borowczyk’s visual and thematic trademarks, and with Marceline containing some of his most audacious and lasting imagery, in the grand scheme of things Immoral Women is an essential addition to any Borowczyk collection.